The Experiment
The final installment of season 11 deals a great bit with the last part of the original series in the form of the Observers. This is a big part of what is wrong with the new series. They feel that they need to bring back so much stuff when they could have easily left it along and went off on their own. The Observers look terrible! They look hastily put together, their brains are nothing more than rubber toys held in their hands and not brain pans! It's supposed to draw us more into the mythos of the show, but it only serves to do the opposite.
The part where Pearl crashes the party with Bobo and Brainguy is probably the highlight of the whole thing. Though it would have been nice to have Brainguy converse with some of his own kind, as they are all in the same room as him.
Either way, I will not have any spoilers for the actual ending of the episode, all of that will be handled at a later time in a different blog.
Beyond that, there's Joel McHale... that's something.
At the Earth's Core
Two scientists go down into the Earth's core using a drilling machine only to find a completely different world. This new world is nothing like they expected and has creatures of a dangerous nature that take humans as prisoners and slaves. Now they must find their way out.
What makes this movie bad?
Even for back in 1976, this movie was an old and tired concept. Drilling into the Earth's core was in no way breaking any new ground nor was it pulled off any better than its many predecessors. Back in the early days of color films with sound, they simply didn't have the technology to pull off this concept. This movie didn't do a terrible job of it, but they also didn't do well enough to justify its creation.
This movie was decent at least. The creatures looked pretty good and the acting wasn't awful. Peter Cushing does a good job and Doug McClure is... there.
The Riffs
While the riffs are up to par, they just don't compensate for the lack of interest in the film itself. The film just isn't overly bad or interesting enough to make the riffing stand out in any way, shape or form. The creatures are pretty neat and they generate some good riffs. However, it would be pretty hard to do this episode any real justice.
The Episode
This episode is ripe with problems and is honestly a pretty bad way to end the season. The ending mixed with the execution of the wedding ceremony along with a bland film sequence just makes this an overall dismal experience. They could have ended on something of a high note in some way, but they took the low road in every sense. However, that is to say that it isn't a horrible episode. It has merit and it's still MST3K so it has that going for it. Overall, it's still watchable and you'll still laugh, so it's best to make the best of it as it is something of a required watch if you're wanting to finish the season.